


Four Times Brigadier General Glenn Talbot Helps Skye and Coulson (And One Time He Didn’t)

by Skyepilot



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Coulson doesn't want to have to explain his relationship with Skye to anyone, F/M, Gen, Glenn Talbot is a softie feels, Glenn Talbot's family, Humor, Implied Relationships, Inhumans (Marvel), Observing other people's relationships, Romance, Secret Partnership, Secret Relationship, Secret Warriors - Freeform, wild wild speculation for the sake of a fan fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-10
Updated: 2015-08-10
Packaged: 2018-04-14 02:00:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,034
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4545894
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Skyepilot/pseuds/Skyepilot
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What the tin says.  I just wanted to write Talbot observing Skoulson.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Four Times Brigadier General Glenn Talbot Helps Skye and Coulson (And One Time He Didn’t)

**One**

 

“Let’s get to the important part,” he said, taking off his sunglasses.

He wanted to look the man in the eyes for this.

“What do I get out of it?”

Coulson didn’t answer, instead, the girl with him, looked in her twenties he supposed, leaned forward across the café table.

“Intel, threat assessment, _cooperation_.”

Talbot narrowed his eyes at her, and looked back to Coulson.

“We might even invite you to movie nights,” he said with a charming smirk.

God, he hated Coulson being sassy to him.  Never would’ve made it in the military.  Of course he ended up in intelligence.  Smartasses, one and all.

Talbot pointed at her.  
  
“I think I like Agent Johnson’s style,” he said, sitting back in his seat.

“Smart little cookie.”

“Mmmm,” Coulson winced, shaking his head. “Wouldn't call her that.”  
  
Talbot raised his eyebrows, looking back at Johnson’s impassive face.

“No need to get protective,” he replied. “But you know, I’m a family man. I understand.”

“Oh, not for her,” he shrugged.  Dammit his face got even cockier. “ _For you_.”  
  
Talbot glanced uneasily at her, as she tilted her head at him, burying a smile.

They’re all alike.

“Yeah?” he said. “Well don't go getting sweet on me just yet, _Phil_.”

“You don’t like the new agency, do you?” Johnson asked.

“I wouldn’t be here if I did,” he whispered, leaning towards her. “The world’s gotten scarier…with all of these… _freaks_ everywhere.”

He glanced around the café. He’d been here before with Carla, once.  Before their son was born.  He had really fond memories.  Which was probably why they were sitting here right now.

Trying to play on his emotions.

She reached her hand out and put her finger on his glass of water.

He’s just wondering what he’s supposed to be impressed by as a ripple goes through the glass, and it begins to vibrate.

He quickly gripped the glass and pulled it away.

“So, you’re one of them,” Talbot said.

“Better the freak you know, than the freak-“

“Cute,” Talbot said, cutting her off, wanting to take a drink and then pushing the glass to the side.

“I’m not naïve,” he continued. “Things have changed.  I don’t want to be left in the dust.  This new operation is going to...complicate things.  For everyone.”

“Who’s behind it?” Coulson asked.

“I don’t know,” Talbot said. “Hoping that you could tell me.”

 

**Two**

 

“This is the last time I stick my neck out for you.”  
  
“You're here because you don't like what's happening, either.” 

They’re both in a crouch, trapped behind a barricade and taking enemy fire. He looks down at his gun, out of ammo, then at Coulson’s hoping he’s got something left.  

“What the hell?” he’s startled. “You have a robot hand. You one of them?”  
  
“I had an accident,” Coulson answers, tense, clearly not wanting to get into the details. “I got better. Look, does it matter?”  
  
“Not at the moment,” Talbot replies, a little perturbed he’s just being let in on this. 

He looks over the top of the bullet riddled remains of the wall they’re using as cover to assess. 

“Tell me it fires lasers,” he asks, seeing at least six men on them. “Or, it’s made up of a bunch of tiny robots that will destroy these guys?”  
  
“You _might_ watch too many cartoons.”  
  
“ _Hey_ ,” he warns.  Not the family stuff again.  And definitely not the sass.  

“It will though, when all of this shakes out. I don't know who's behind this. They don't care about _real_ people it's just-“  
  
“Glenn,” Coulson says, as they duck when more bullets are tossed their way.

“Get real. They don't care about Inhumans, either.” 

He looks Coulson over.  God, it’s like he’s thirteen and he’s talking to his mother or something.  
  
“I know some of those people didn't ask for it,” he says. “I'm sorry. Agent Johnson is important to you. I'd do the same thing for my son.”  
  
“Good,” Coulson nods.  For too long. “Your wife, too. I hope?”  
  
“Yeah,” he answers, wistfully.  “If Carla were here, we'd probably have to hold _her_ back, she's a better shot than I-“  
  
There’s a noise, like sound being trapped, and they both look up and Agent Johnson is standing in between them and the enemy. 

“What the hell is she doing?!” Talbot cries out, starting to stand. 

Coulson puts his hand on his shoulder and pushes him back down. 

Bullets are rained down on them now that she’s here, and yet, nothing is getting through. 

She’s the one holding them back. 

She also yells at them.  
  
“What are you waiting for? _Move!_ ”  
  
They duck and run, as another round is fired. 

He can hear from the gunplay how they’re trying to circle her, get around whatever she did that stopped them.

When they're back in friendly territory, he stares back at Coulson, catching his breath.  
  
“Your girl's impressive.”  
  
Coulson smiles. 

“I know.” 

 

 **Three**  

 

“Look, we’re not exactly friends.”

“Not even close,” he says, staring back at her.

“You don’t like my kind,” she adds, with that touch of sarcasm that just makes him...

He chooses to relax.  It’s something Carla has him working on.

“I’m coming around, but, what you’re asking for?  It’s not a good idea.”

“She just needs an adjustment.  Her powers are out of control.  We have someone that can regulate that.  It’s like…a hormone imbalance.”

“She punched out ten of my guys in ten seconds, Agent Johnson!”

“Because she’s scared, and she can’t turn it off.  Her background is-“

“Let me guess?  Comes from less-than-ideal circumstances. No dad around?”

She stares back at him, waiting.

“I can be politically correct.”

“What you’re being is an  _asshole_ , “she says, standing up. “You don’t have the tools to help her. We do.”

“She’s dangerous, Agent Johnson,” he said, standing up as well. “Just imagine someone like her working as an assassin, for the other side!”

“Have you actually talked to her?”

She took a breath and sat back down.  “Like she’s a human being?”

Talbot rolled his eyes. “Don’t start in with me on this.”

She shrugged.

“No,” he finally answered.

“You should go talk to her. She needs to know someone is on her side. Do your paternal thing you love to do.”

“What’s the deal with you and Coulson?” he asked suddenly. “You’re like a tag team of guilt-trips and sass.  You remind me of my damn parents,” he said, slapping his hands down on the desk to stand up.

“Only for you, Glenn,” she smiles up at him.

He sighs and asks her.

“Am I dismissed?”

**Four**

 

“We’re friends, right?”

“Yes,” she answered.  Not fast enough.

He let out desperate breath.  “This is…personal.”

She stared back at him for a moment, watching him squirm, his hands tensing on the steering wheel as he stared ahead.

He feels a drop of sweat trickle down his face.

“Your son.”

“I’m not like you. Carla,” he explains. “We had no idea-”

“I don’t know if I can explain it in a way that will satisfy you,” she begins. “But there are documents. They keep records of all the generations.”

“Is he going to be okay?” Talbot asks, finally letting out a breath. 

He can’t do this right now, fall apart.  But he needs to know.

“Of course he is,” she says, reaching for his arm. “His parents love him.  And we know how to help him.”

He didn’t mean to hurt them, he knows that.  His son’s face, so terrified, he can’t stop picturing it in his head.

It can’t be his last memory of his boy.

“Can we see him?” he asks, trying to make his hands not tremble on the wheel.

“Not right now,” Johnson says, talking very slowly, deliberately.  “But soon. I promise.”

They sit in the car in silence for a moment.  In the dark off on this dirt road.

“What did Coulson do when you, y’know?”

“He didn’t know what happened at first,” she says, looking down at her hands, resting on her lap again.  “He was really concerned,” she smiled. “It’s kind of funny, even though my powers seemed so dangerous, he thought about me.”

“Carla can’t forgive herself,” he said. “She thinks it’s all her fault.”

“It was already inside of her, inside of your son.  The Terrigen just wakes it up.”

"I don’t know what to say to her,” he shook his head.  “She’s listened to me say _so many_ horrible things about people like that.  People like  _her_ .”

He finds his face against the steering wheel, fighting back tears, and winces as he feels her touch his shoulder in a comforting gesture.

“Tell her that you always love her, no matter what,” she answered. “Before she became Inhuman and now that she is.  Forever.”

“Did that work on you?” he asked, narrowing his eyes a little and turning his face to her. 

She nodded back at him.

“He’s pretty smooth, that guy,” Talbot said.

Sitting up straight, he turned the car back on.

 

**Five**

 

“Not that you ever asked,” Talbot whispers, leaning slightly towards his shoulder.  

“But…What's wrong with you?  
  
“Sorry?” 

Coulson looks annoyed.  He likes it when that happens.  
  
“You. Agent Johnson,” Talbot says again, looking over at her standing at the podium, holding the crowd’s attention.  “Do I need to draw a diagram for you?”  
  
Coulson slowly turns his eyes on him.  
  
“In my experience,” Talbot continues, crossing his arms in front of him. “You only get one shot at that kind of thing.”  
  
“I don’t know if you’ve noticed the chaos that is our lives right now-“

“Yes,” Talbot answers, titling his head just a little.  Not enough that anyone in the audience would notice them talking quietly. 

They’re not who they came here to see, after all. 

“You're both walking disasters,” he adds. “She is _literally_ a natural disaster, and you-“

“Thanks,” Coulson says, taking a deep breath, tries to relax.  
  
“Sure,” Talbot continues. Then he waits. “You should tell her.”  
  
“Shhh.”  
  
It's a press conference. Her press conference, really.  
  
“It's the perfect opportunity,” he says, as she continues speaking. “She's going public, you go public.” 

When she’s done, they all step off towards backstage, as flash bulbs chase them.  
  
“How did I do?” she asks nervously, bouncing down the stairs, her eyes on Coulson.  
  
“Great. Just as expected,” he says with an admiring smile, slowing down as she mirrors his pace, begins to relax.  
  
“I did have a _really great_ speech writer,” she says, stopping to turn towards him when they reach the bottom.  

Talbot manages to squeeze around them.  
  
“And all of those long nights. Practicing,” he says, lowering his voice, as her fingers run down his tie, then straighten it a bit.  
  
Talbot clears his throat.  

“Glenn here thinks I should make the first move,” Coulson says, mentioning his name, but his eyes are still on hers.  
  
She raises an eyebrow aimed at Talbot.  
  
“Context?” he says, shooting Coulson an irritated look. “That's not what I-“ he raises his hands. 

“Sorry, I couldn't wait that long,” she grinned back over Coulson, whose mind was obviously headed somewhere else. 

“My work here is done,” Talbot said finally, tugging on the bottom of his uniform jacket.  
  
“That’s very thoughtful, though.”

“I'm always one step behind the two of you,” he answers, with a sigh. 

“Just the way you like it.” 

“We’re going to get a drink and celebrate,” Coulson says, his hand now on the small of her back. 

“You’re welcome to join us.” 

“Like I said,” he smiled. “My work here is done. That includes playing the third wheel to your….Luke and Lorelai.” 

They both looked back at him quizzically. 

“What? You guys didn’t watch Gilmore Girls?” 

“I think we’re more like-“ she pointed at Coulson. 

“Han and Leia?” he said, offering an agreeable shrug. 

“But I’m Han,” she smiled. 

“That’s fair,” Coulson conceded. “I’m more diplomatic.” 

“And I totally dressed as Han once for Halloween.” 

" _Really ?_ " Coulson said, sounding intrigued.

“Exactly my point,” Talbot said, letting out a breath. “Call me if you need me. Or, my superpowered family.” 

“I know what that’s like,” Coulson shrugged. “Just being the ordinary guy.” 

“Yeah.”   

 

 


End file.
